Secrets Don't Make Friends
by Jizabel Disraeli
Summary: Roxas finds that Axel is having a bit of trouble and could use some help. But will Axel be willing to open up to his old classmate and aaccept his kindness? Rated M for drug use and some yaoi in later chapters


**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy so don't hit me with any of that copyright bullshit**.

Chapter 1: Second Impressions

It was frigid cold and the snow whipped against the blonde's raw cheeks. He trudged through the deep white fluff on his way home from his job at the local grocery store. He was only 15, therefore a bag-boy was the only real job he could get.

"I just had to play the big-boy part and deny a ride," Roxas grumbled.

He pulled the collar of his jacket up to cover his chin though it helped little.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a tall lanky figure stumble out from behind a building and fall to the ground. Roxas rushed to the figure but the man was already on his feet by the time the blonde teenager had gotten there. In fact, it was no man but a boy no older than 18. He had messy red hair and poison green eyes that seemed to pierce right though a person.

"...Axel?" Roxas mused quietly, more to reassure himself that the boy in front of him really was who he thought. It took a second for Roxas to notice Axel's bleeding lip and matching bruises around his neck. He wasn't wearing a jacket and must have been freezing in the weather that they were currently experiencing.

"No time," Axel responded gruffly. He shot a glance over his shoulder and was about to run when two older men charged at him and tackled him back to the ground.

Axel kicked them away and got back to his feet. He threw as many punches as he could but they weren't much use with his lack of muscle or weight or any kind. Roxas couldn't help but feel sorry and he put his training from the wrestling team to good use and was able to fight off the men with semi-ease.

When the two older males had given up and run off, Roxas extended a hand to Axel who had collapsed to the ground and was wiping the blood from his lip.

"Are you okay, man? Who were those guys and what's their deal with you?" Roxas asked.

"Do I know you?" Axel raised an eyebrow.

"It's me… Roxas. Remember? We were in Artistic Foundations class together a couple years ago but you disappeared halfway through the semester…"

"Oh, yeah," Axel replied absent mindedly, dusting the snow from the legs of his jeans. "I guess we were. But don't worry about those guys. I just owed them some money and they were sore because I wasn't able to pay them."

Roxas noticed that Axel was visibly shivering now so he led him inside of a nearby coffee shop to get warm. He bought the two of them hot cocoa and Axel didn't object. He seemed to be quite mal-nourished and seemed like he would accept anything offered to him.

"Why did you owe them money?" Roxas asked as a continuation from their earlier conversation.

"I sort of bought some substance off of them a while ago and said I would pay them back but I don't have the money," Axel said with a half shrug, holding his warm mug in his hands.

"Substance? As in drugs?"

"You could say that…" Axel mumbled.

"Axel, what happened to you?" Roxas asked, abandoning his usual cool disposition and letting it be replaced with concern for his old classmate. "You stopped showing up at school and no one's heard from you in years. And now you're doing drugs?"

Roxas never truly liked Axel- the redhead was always a jerk to everyone who wasn't inside of his circle- but Roxas still could help but have a soft spot for someone who had obviously been thought a lot.

"Truth?" Axel sighed.

"I wouldn't expect anything different."

Axel took a long sip of cocoa and sat down the mug.

"The reason I left school," he explained. "Was because my mom disappeared. She and my dad divorced when I was young and she was always calling me a failure because I reminded her of him. One day in ninth grade, I came home and my mom had just left. I didn't see any reason to stay either so I just went and began hopping between friends houses. But then my friends stopped caring about me, I guess. So I had no where to go."

"So you've been homeless for how long now?"

Axel shook his head. "I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Listen, Axel," Roxas said. "I think you should come back and stay with my and my family for a while."

"Until you get tired of me too," Axel mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing…" 

"Mom, I'm home."

"Who's this?" Roxas' mom, Tifa, asked as she walked in, a dishtowel flung over her shoulder.

"This is my friend Axel," Roxas explained. "He's having some troubles at home so would you mind if he stayed with us for a few days until things cool down?"

Tifa considered this for a moment but then nodded.

"Of course," she said.

"Thanks, mom."

Roxas ran upstairs to his room and Axel slowly followed.

"Do you maybe want to take a hot shower and I'll throw your clothes in the dryer?" Roxas suggested. "I mean, they are still kind of wet from the snow and we don't want you getting sick."

Axel hesitated but then nodded. He took off his shirt and sat it down on Roxas' bed. The blonde's stomach dropped when he saw the red and white scars the traveled up the redhead's arms.

"Axel what did you—"

"I don't want to talk about it…"

Axel seemed to be using that as an excuse a lot lately.

"Is your bathroom in here?" Axel inquired, pointing to the door behind him.

Roxas nodded and Axel turned and disappeared behind the bathroom door. Roxas proceeded to walk downstairs and throw Axel's black, long-sleeved shirt in the dryer. Suddenly, Tifa appeared in the doorway.

"How exactly do you know that boy, Roxas?"

"He used to be in some of my classes. He just a friend," Roxas replied truthfully.

"He looks sickly," Tifa admitted. "Almost like he's on the verge of death even. Does he not eat?"

"I don't think he has an eating disorder or anything, mom. His mom just neglects him a bit so he doesn't get that many home cooked meals too often."

Tifa nodded. "Then I'll have to be sure to feed him and fatten him up won't I?"

"That's probably not a bad idea."

"Moooooom!" came a yell from upstairs. "There's a scary man in Roxas' room!"

"Shut up, Namine!" Roxas shot back.

Namine came running down the stairs and skidded to a halt in front of her mother and older brother.

"If Roxas can have his friend over, I should be able to have Kairi over!"

"It's a school night, Namine," Tifa reasoned. "You can't have anyone over. Roxas' friend is having some home troubles so he's staying here for different reasons."

"That's so not fair!" With that, Namine stormed back upstairs and slammed the door to her room.

"Sometimes that girl just needs to grow up," Tifa sighed. "No one will ever believe she's 14 unless she acts her age."

Roxas silently agreed and went back upstairs to find Axel towel-drying his hair while staring out the window.

"Sorry, Axel, but your shirt won't be dry for a while so why don't you just borrow one of mine?"

Axel complied when Roxas handed him one of his longer T-shirts. Even though Axel was taller than the younger blonde, the shirt was still baggy on him because of his thin frame.

"You can have the bed and I'll sleep on the couch if you want," Roxas offered as he moved over to the stuffed couch in the corner of the room.

"No," Axel declined. "This is your house so you should have the bed. I don't even want to be noticed. Just do things as you normally would. If I didn't feel that you would make such a big deal, I wouldn't even be here now."

Roxas shrugged and crawled into bed, setting his alarm so he could wake up for school in the morning. He then noticed Axel heading for the door.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I need a smoke," Axel mused. "I'll be back in a second." With that, he left.

"Great," Roxas thought to himself. "He smokes too. He had better not stink up my shirt…"

Finally, my first non-oneshot Kingdom Hearts fanfic. I just came up with this story on a dime so don't get mad if it kind of seems thinly strung together in places. A lot of it was just spur of the moment, really. But I'm kind of proud. I want to add Demyx next chapter. Honestly, I like Demyx more than Roxas….. I don't know why I put Roxas in here…

By the way, for those of you who don't like yaoi or are homophobes of any kind won't like this story in later chapters. It might be mentioned next chapter but it won't be going to any detail for a while. Will it be between Axel and Roxas? Who knows? Maybe. Maybe not. I'll stop now.

Review and give me suggestions if you want! (I 3 constructive criticism!)

The title of this fanfic is a song. Brownie points (along with a chapter dedication) to the first person to recognize the artist!

-Your faithful author: Vin

PS. It takes me A LOT longer to post new chapters when I don't get reviews. Am I threatening you? Yeah probably.


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